Only reason SWA interests me more at this point is quality of life and pay. Apparently you can make a ton of money over at SWA and if I can live in base I don’t care what I fly at that point.

 

Not throwing shade at SWA at all. Its a great airline to be at. And the 73 is a lot less bad than some flight deck fashionistas would have you believe. Just be careful with snapshot macro logic like that. You can "make a ton of money" at any legacy too at least these days. And if you live in base (and even if you don't) you can still not care what you fly, but at least have a choice.

 

I really enjoyed flying the 73 here at Delta until a forgotten standing AE bid dropped me into WB flying. All the way through training I was slightly miffed at myself for leaving an airplane I enjoyed at a seniority level that worked great. Then, a three and half hour nap in a lie flat seat on the way to Buenos Aires, followed by mid morning empanadas with the other pilots at an outdoor cafe in the sunshine, a solid nap, workout, then a spectacular dinner with the other pilots before a long night’s sleep and the return trip, with, you guessed it, a three hour nap in the lid flat seat (it really works for me). The naps, relaxed pace on the layover, and spending a pittance in BA to eat like a king can be real habit forming. As others have noted, being able to sleep on the plane can be a critical factor in how people do or don’t enjoy international. Count me amongst those that heard the, “it’s a totally different airline” talk for years, then had the epiphany of, “Holy Crap! It is a TOTALLY different airline.” YMMV BWYWWWYB

 

And the next level is the 4 man ULH flying on the 350 (And some on the 330)

But you don't know what you don't know, right? I think of those newhire captains when I say that. Good for them, but they won't know what they're missing for a long long time.

 

Their nearly 4-year seat lock will fly by when you are that busy. 😁

 

Maybe when we get some more and they actually fly to a non lockdown destination. For now it doesn’t seem worth it.

Scoop

 

3 day Tokyo layover locked in hotel with $100/day stipend isn’t as bad as you think. Breakfast buffet, nap, work out, filet mignon dinner, then manhattans at the jazz bar…all on the company dime while toasting “Here’s to the NB pilots senior to us!” YMMV. Hahahaha

 

International flying is fantastic, especially with 4 person crews. Nothing like it when your actually headed somewhere and can enjoy the ride and destination. Not for everyone I guess, but for those who prefer a very easy way to earn a living and travel it’s hard to beat.

 

That sounds fun for 1 day not 3. Then you have the 2 day zombie hangover after trying to catch up on sleep once you get home.

 

I loved international flying for all the positives but the cumulative effect on me personally was that I was sick all the time. I would get a head cold that would turn into a sinus infection that would last two weeks. I almost had surgery it was so ridiculous.

I don’t know if it was the dry air but I am convinced that it was the cumulative effects of circadian disruption/disjointed sleep(interrupted sleep) that did it. I did exclusively international for seven years and after about two years had these effects.

If you are based on the 330 in NYC, you’re losing two solid sleeps, 4-5x per month. More if you GS. That’s what killed me. Flying through WOCL and breaking the normal sleep patterns that many times per month is for me, a recipe for being sick. A lot.

It is astonishingly different post international flying doing zero red eyes. If I get a sniffle it’s gone in a day. Domestic is way harder work, no doubt but I don’t feel anywhere near as run down in terms of cumulative fatigue.

I loved the aircraft, crews, destinations, etc but it aged me and made it drastically harder to recover from sickness. YMMV. I will never fly an air airplane again that does exclusively international.

1x international or red eye here or there is fine, it was the cumulative effects of it all the time that were hard.